Disney's "Big Hero 6" wins weekend box office over "Interstellar"

Disney's 3D animated film "Big Hero 6" snatched the first place at the North American weekend box office, edging out Christopher Nolan's space drama "Interstellar".

"Big Hero 6", based on a Marvel comic, grossed 56.2 million U.S. dollars at 3,767 locations in the U.S. and Canada, according to studio estimates from Rentrak. The film, which cost about 165 million dollars to make, earned a strong A rating from first-night moviegoers on CinemaScore, and 91 percent "fresh" rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

The film attracted younger audience and families. A total of 58 percent of the audiences were 25 and younger, and family audiences made up a sizable 72 percent of the film's overall audience. Moviegoer were evenly split male-female. 3D grosses accounted for 29 percent of the overall grosses this weekend.

Co-financed by Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., " Interstellar", also a 165-million-dollar film, starring McConaughey, Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain, opened in regular and IMAX theaters with 50 million dollars in the three day weekend. IMAX generated its largest percentage of box office ever for a first-run release. "Interstellar" grossed 13.4 million dollars on 368 IMAX screens, becoming IMAX's best opening for a November release.

The film earned a B+ grade from CinemaScore and a 73 percent " fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. This Nolan's almost-three-hour film attracted largely older crowds. An estimated 75 percent of moviegoers were 25 and older. The audience was 52 percent male.

Overseas, "Interstellar" debuted on a par with "Gravity" in 62 markets, grossing 80 million dollars for a worldwide launch of 132. 2 million dollars.

This is the fourth time in history two films grossed more than 50 million dollars apiece in their shared opening weekend.

In June 2013, "Monsters University" opened to 82.4 million dollars and "World War Z" opened to 66.4 million dollars in the same weekend. "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted" opened to 60.3 million dollars the same weekend in 2012 that "Prometheus" opened to about 51 million dollars. And in 2008, "Wanted" opened to 51 million dollars the same weekend that "Wall-E" opened to 63 million dollars.

Despite the numbers of these two films, the box office is still down 7 percent from the same weekend last year and down 3.8 percent year-to-date, according to Rentrak.

David Fincher's "Gone Girl" jumped from fourth to third in its sixth weekend at the box office. The Twentieth Century Fox film, which pulled in 6.1 million dollars this weekend, has grossed 145. 4 million dollars to date.

The rest seven films among the top 10 this week were "Ouija" (6 million dollars), "St. Vincent" (5.7 million), "Nightcrawler" (5.5 million), "Fury" (5.5 million), "John Wick" (4.1 million), " Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day" (3.5 million) and "The Book of Life" (2.8 million).